Tag Archives: Isla Blair

Writer and Director:David Hare Reviewer: Stephen Bates It has taken Sir John Chilcot seven years to finalise his report on the second Iraq war and its surrounding circumstances. Playwright David Hare delivered his verdict on events leading up to that war on the stage of the National’s Olivier Theatre little more than a year after the initial US/UK-led invasion took ...

Authors: P.G. Wodehouse and Ian Hay Writers: Jeremy Sams and Robert Hudson Music and Lyrics: George and Ira Gershwin Director/Choreographer: Rob Ashford Reviewer: Bill Avenell The word verve springs to mind to encapsulate this new stage musical based on P.G.Wodehouse’s novel. It is a really lively evening’s entertainment which combines a top drawer cast showing off Chichester’s technical facility, the ...

Writer: Nicky Silver Director: Mark Brokaw Reviewer: Ian Foster [rating:4] Families – who’d have ‘em? Not Ben Lyons that’s for sure, as in his upscale New York private hospital room where his terminal cancer has reached crisis point, the cacophony that arises when his wife and two children are around his bed is enough to make anyone reach for the ...

Writer: Robert Harling Director: David Gilmore Reviewer: Maggie Constable [rating:4] Everyone undoubtedly knows the 1989 film versions of Steel Magnolias but this evening at Milton Keynes we joined the six sassy Louisiana ladies on stage. This play is based on the true story by Robert Harling, written after the death of his much loved sister. It is considered to be ...

Writer: Robert Harling Director: David Gilmore Reviewer: Selwyn Knight [rating:3] Looking at the audience as it filed in to the New Alexandra Theatre, it was clear that Steel Magnolias is what my mother would call ‘a ladies’ play’. This is reinforced by the programme that discusses, among other things, how to measure the weepiness of a film. So why were ...

Writer: Robert Harling Director: David Gilmore Reviewer: Alex Ramon [rating:3.5] Soap queens and theatre grande dames constitute the astutely-assembled cast of David Gilmore’s engaging revival of Steel Magnolias, Robert Harling’s 1987 talk-fest about the lives, loves and losses of six Louisiana women. Best known in its 1989 film adaptation directed by Herbert Ross, Harling’s play is a slight but affectionate ...